Director, Patient Access
The Director, Patient Access will assess and transform front-end clinic operations such as arrival and registration, provider template management, insurance verification, financial eligibility counseling, cashiering, and work queue management to achieve quality and patient experience goals. Key focus areas include the development of standardized protocols and clinic policies, the continuous improvement of technology-oriented workflows, staff training and development, and compliance management. Demonstrated ability in leading patient service initiatives, inclusive of financial eligibility, that have resulted in improved satisfaction scores and a development of a patient service culture for the organization.
Responsibilities
Essential Functions :
- Operations Management :
- Sets vision and provides overall strategy and financial / operational direction of patient services to include Registration, Patient Estimates, Financial Counseling, Insurance Verification, and Point of Service Collections.
- Oversees financial eligibility personnel and collaborates with management to oversee regulatory compliance, technology use / improvement, and operating performance - as assessed by key performance indicators for financial operations. Reviews statistics and performance improvement data; designs, develops and maintains daily, weekly, monthly management reports and dashboard in order to track and trend quality assurance measures and standards.
- Develop processes and innovative approaches to enhance the identification of patients that require financial counseling services, including but not limited to Self-Pay, Health Safety Net and the underinsured patient population.
- Partners with service line leaders to oversee patient access initiatives in registration, insurance verification, and decentralizing scheduling. Directly responsible for overseeing the registration activities of medical administrative clerks to create an environment of excellent customer service and identifying opportunities to aid in setting goals, priorities and optimizing staff performance through process redesign, policy / procedures and communication.
- Provides training strategy for medical administrative clerks to include coaching, mentoring, goal setting and development planning. Provides statistics to management on quality assurance to assure integrity of data and education of staff, as needed.
- Provides template management for provider schedules, continuous alignment of clinic capacity to meet patient demand, and oversight of capacity-related system configuration. Works in a strong, collaborative partnership with clinic operations, patient access contact center, revenue cycle, and IT.
- Establishes and provides oversight of enterprise-wide template standards and guidelines, as well as ensures effective maintenance of scheduling guidelines.
- Works with data analytics to evaluate uniform data reporting (UDS) for accuracy and understands relationships across tables within the electronic health record.
- Directs cross-team collaboration for access change control and change management groups to understand interrelatedness of all activities and stakeholders.
- Oversee any partners, vendors, systems utilized in the performance of achieving goals for the un or underinsured population of patients.
- Creates and fosters an atmosphere of continuous improvement resulting in higher quality clinical outcomes, increased clinical revenue and greater satisfaction of patients, families, providers, and CommUnityCare colleagues.
- Work to develop employee's supervisory skills and provide direction to supervisory staff concerning performance management issues.
- Model AIDET guidelines in all interactions with the patient and ensure staff are adhering to the patient experience expectations.
- Collaborate with revenue cycle to maximize collections, ensuring registration are in line with a patient-centered approach to care.
- Stay abreast of regulatory requirements and company compliance policies, ensuring timely staff education and inform staff of any changes or developments.
- Engage IT partners to ensure front-end services employ the optimal software, hardware and telephony technology, data analytics, and reporting capabilities.
- Oversee operationalization of digital services and functions related to Patient Access.
- Collaborate closely with clinical operations leaders to implement organization-wide solutions related to patient access.
- Program Management :
- The ideal candidate will be an established, hands-on leader with demonstrated success in key areas, with a focus on inter-personal and fine-tuned communication skills. Demonstrated managerial skills in a complex environment.
- Communicate with others in a clear, understandable and professional manner on the phone and in person, and the demonstrated use of good written and verbal communication skills.
- Effective project management skills, including the ability to plan, organize and schedule work in an efficient and productive manner, focusing on key priorities and meeting deadlines.
- People Management / Department Management / Business Unit Management :
- Responsible for building and leading a high?performing staff. Select and evaluate staff based on their ability to contribute to organization / division / clinic goals.
- Provide leadership, coaching, support, and training to staff. Responsible for staffing, performance management, professional development, recruitment and retention of staff.
- Hire and supervise staff in accordance with personnel policies and procedures including orientation and training, providing career development advice, establishing employee goals, conducting performance reviews, coaching, counseling and disciplining staff, and recommending terminations if needed.
- Interact respectfully and collaboratively with patients and their families.
Qualifications
Minimum Education :
Bachelor's Degree (higher degree accepted) in Business, Health Administration, or related fieldMinimum Experience :
7 years of experience in patient access or clinic operations in the healthcare industry, three (3) years of which were in a managerial role.Required Licenses and Certifications :
Certified Health Access Manager (CHAM) or Certified Healthcare Financial Professional (CHFP) Within 1 Year